Can crime cards solve cold cases?

Snohomish County

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office is hoping that a deck of cards, featuring details of 52 cold-case homicides, will help solve the cases.

Starting Wednesday, deputies will distribute cards to local jail and prison inmates, according to sheriff's Capt. Kevin Prentiss. The idea for the cards came from a retired Sheriff's Office employee who heard of a similar crime-solving tactic used in Florida and by the U.S. military.

Deputies have created 5,000 decks of cards with information about unsolved cases in unincorporated Snohomish County, as well as in Everett and Monroe, the Sheriff's Office said.

The oldest case featured in the deck is from 1972.

Craig, Mont.

Body of rafter from Washington found

Searchers on the swollen Dearborn River found the body of a Washington state woman Monday and continued looking for her companion, a day after a survivor of a raft trip gone bad was rescued and a search-and-rescue helicopter made an emergency landing that left all aboard unharmed.

The body of the woman, believed to be from Tacoma, was found at about noon not far from where another member of her rafting party was rescued Sunday night, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Cheryl Liedle said.

Searchers on the ground found the body while looking for the woman and a missing Helena man who had been rafting the Dearborn, Liedle said.

The Helena man rescued Sunday and the two who had been reported missing were on a trip involving seven people in three rafts, two of which apparently capsized, Liedle said.

The search-and-rescue work begun Sunday night included a Homeland Security helicopter that carried eight people and made an emergency landing late Sunday because the rotor touched a tree, Liedle said.

Liedle said four of the seven rafters reached land safely. Her office received a call for help at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

The man rescued from a riverbank shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday received medical attention at a Great Falls hospital and was released, Liedle said.

She did not release his name, nor the names of the woman who died and the man still missing.

Lakewood, Pierce County

Man shot and killed by agents identified

A man who was shot to death by bounty hunters last week has been identified as 34-year-old Roberto Roque.

Bail-bond agents say they shot Roque in self-defense Thursday after he backed his car into one of the agents' two cars, then started going forward. Investigators say two guns were found in Roque's car.

He was facing charges in three criminal cases, including drug and weapons offenses. More recently he was accused of stealing money from Liberty Bail Bonds, which hired the agents.

The two bounty hunters who shot at him say they fired in self-defense.

Company agents have declined to comment.

A police investigation into the shooting is continuing.

Wenatchee

NTSB reports on crash probe

A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board says the wheels were extended and locked when a float plane touched down and flipped on Lake Chelan earlier this month, killing two of the five people aboard.

The report says investigators who examined the wreckage found the wheels down and locked, and also found the control lever for the wheels in the down position.

The brief report, released Saturday, offers only investigator observations of the wreckage and witness accounts of the accident. It does not say the crash happened because the wheels were down, nor does it address whether the wheels were down because of pilot error or mechanical malfunction.

The plane crashed May 17 as it was landing on the water at Stehekin, a remote community at the north end of the lake.

Stehekin School Superintendent Roberta Pitts, 67, and 64-year-old William Stifter, a cardiologist from Spokane and part-time Stehekin resident, drowned when the plane flipped and its cabin went underwater.

The Chelan Airways float plane had taken off from a paved runway at Lake Chelan Airport, about 50 miles from Stehekin.

Witnesses on shore told sheriff's deputies they noticed the plane's wheels were down as it descended for a landing, and then abruptly nosed over.

Three people escaped: 16-year-old Stehekin resident Samantha Courtney; 60-year-old Patricia Stifter of Spokane; and the pilot, 61-year-old Howard Wellman of Chelan.

Pitts and William Stifter were trapped. Autopsies indicated they may have been unable to escape because of injuries.

Wellman, a licensed pilot since 1983, received certification in 2005 to fly float planes commercially, said Allen Kenitzer, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.

FAA records show Wellman had 6,000 hours of flight time, including about 800 hours piloting float planes. He had never had an accident or been cited for a safety violation, Kenitzer said.

Bellingham

Weather curtails Ski to Sea race

The weather seemed perfect for the 35th Ski to Sea race in Whatcom County. It turns out that was just the problem.

Sunny, warm weather on Sunday boosted runoff into the Nooksack River so much that the canoe leg of the race was canceled. Many were disappointed, but there were also many expressions of relief from inexperienced canoeists who feared the cold and treacherous torrent.

Then winds gusting to 25 mph formed whitecaps on Bellingham Bay, and the kayak part of the race was cut to three miles from five. Organizers say they were prepared to cancel that leg of the race altogether, but shortening it kept the kayaks close enough to shore to ease the risk.

Most of the members of the 445 teams still seemed to enjoy the race, although some called it "Ski to Plan B."

Seattle Times staff and news services